Entertaining Action Drama with Great Bromance
This was a well-rounded mini-series that used its eight episodes to create a well-paced action plot that was very entertaining to watch. Mini-series tend to be my favourite K-dramas because they, the good ones, excel in pacing; creating a story where we as an audience have a clear end goal that we want the main characters to achieve.The first episode itself is gripping and had me hooked the whole time, within one episode the main characters, and great friendship, are introduced. From the get-go, I was rooting for Woo-Jin and Geon-Woo because they had personalities that complemented each others strengths well. A clear motive is even set for the main characters by the end of episode one with the main villain and company as the antagonists of the story.
When watching this show I was reminded of John Wick, and yes I am a sucker for those movies, and the fight scenes within those movies. The shifting angels and intense shift of close-up to full-length shots make the scenes very immersive and feel realistic. The boxing by both Woo-Jin and Geon-Woo felt very smooth and I was never taken out of the action scenes. Each punch and fight is strategic and effective, the two characters do not engage in unnecessary fights. The element of a logical and calculated fight made the scenes feel intense but also exciting. Throughout the drama the fights, as the main leads get stronger, also intensify and create a sense of power towards reaching the end goal of the drama.
If you're looking for a drama that has great action scenes, while also maintaining a lovely friendship that grows stronger, then this drama is perfect for you!
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Amazing story and acting.
I wrote this review in response to Jeana's. Keep in mind, everyone has their own opinion, I just disagree with hers and want to share what I thought of bloodhounds so people can have 2 different point of views.I personally really loved how bloodhounds was written. To me, it didn't give off the vibe of two wet-behind-the-ears millennials somehow defeating an all powerful mafia boss. It was so much more than that. The story included a lot of death, learning the hard way, and training for that moment. The writing showed the very real hardships of Covid-19 and what some people deal with as a result.
Bloodhounds was written beautifully and the writers, producers, and actors did an AMAZING job at making the watcher FEEL what the character was feeling. They were good at making you frustrated and upset on a character's behalf. Sometimes it made you think "Wow... This character doesn't deserve that. That's so messed up", and the writers did an amazing job at that.
Not to mention the producers did fabulous at the bloody scenes and injuries and whatnot. The fighting scenes were also amazing and sometimes made you cringe away because of how realistic it seemed. I have the utmost respect for Gunwoo and Woojin's actors because their acting was amazing and they're perfect for those roles. Not to mention the actors for Myeongil and Minbeom are amazing too. They did a great job at acting evil and messed up and scared and defeated.
Props to everyone that participated in the filming and sets and everything.
In no way shape or form do I personally believe the writing is "really fucking bad". Nor do I think there was "mindlessly idiotic decisions for the sake of conflict" or meaningless deaths. All of the deaths happened as a last resort on Myeongil's part, and they all happened as a result of something the main characters did.
I won't spoil this too much, but I don't think it's mindlessly idiotic if Gunwoo and Woojin tried taking down Smile Capital and the other guys because they ruin peoples lives. Take a look at Mr. Choi.
People are allowed to have their own opinions, but I am responding with my OWN opinion on not only what she said but everything she addressed and my opinion on the drama itself.
I also figured I'd put my review out there but ACTUALLY elaborate on my points. :)
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Watch this for motivation to work out!
Good story line without crappy romance. I learnt quite a bit about how to use kitchenware as weapons.I like that each character was given time and opportunity to develop, and those that did wrong took responsibility for their youthful misdeeds. The female characters were pretty, gritty, competent and useful. The male leads must have worked very hard to get their bodies in shape for the action scenes! I punched along the boxing scenes and enjoyed a great work out while watching the series! I’ll certain watch this series again, and very likely, again! 😂
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I have never watched a more frustrating set of idiots go through so much and learn nothing
Some people have commented that the plot is wafer thin, but really the most frustrating thing about watching 8 episodes of this was watching a huge ensemble of characters make the same mistakes over and over again and learn absolutely nothing. There is no character development arc to speak of, everyone ends in the exact same box they started in. Maybe Myeong In learned to get more ruthless but truly this show was nothing but an 8 hour long boxing fight. I mean nothing wrong with that but at least make the boxers a little more interesting than sexy cardboard cutouts. Or maybe that was the plan, idk.I guess the action was good. And by action I mean the parts where Gun Woo gets his fists out. The rest was mediocre trauma porn, watching overly buffed guys beat up people with knives and sticks. These specific scenes lingering on for longer than they sit down and actually strategize towards a plan to do something other than drink and eat in random places and celebrate things they haven’t really accomplished.
The MOST frustrating part? Kim Sae Ron dipped out. Like completely. She caused a whole bunch of shit, SHE was the one who started them on that whole road, got lulled into false safety nets constantly while thinking she was badass and then just left with her arc incomplete lmao what a waste of time.
I believe the creators might say that moral of this story might be “good guys always stay good regardless of how tyrannical and brutal the overlord” but over the course of the show, watching ALL the “good guys” take shortcuts, be sloppy and careless, make lazy assumptions and work in extremely ineffective ways, one can safely assume that what they’re really trying to say is “Bad guys are just more hardworking.” Myeong In might have been demented but he covered ALL his bases. He didn’t stop to celebrate victories he didn’t win and he sure as hell didn’t assume that just because he had money and good looks, everything would fall in line for him in life.
By the time the series end Gun Woo says “I’ve really become a bloodhound” — I’m just left speechless. Like, bro. You were hired as a bodyguard and the body you were guarding dipped out. I thought you were on a quest for revenge? When we’re you hunting for money? And like, IS that what they were doing? What does that say about the characters if that was their motivation? My god. Lol. I can’t even.
I’m not even sure how I’m giving this show a 5.5 but I genuinely liked the acting and the visual polish so I guess it was entertaining enough to balance out the sheer frustration of watching weak and old people suffer because no one could get their sh*t together.
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Action packed
This drama promised action, and action it had, from the get go. The action choreography was just out of this world, *chef's kiss*. The acting was also quite good, with Woo Do Hwan and Lee Sang Yi being the best action pair one could ask for. I loved how the women were also quite well equipped to handle their own, and not mere sidekicks. I just wished Kim Sae Ron didn't have this abrupt exit though.Let me just take a moment here to shower praises on the lead actors' bodies. They have WORKED OUT FOR IT, and it shows... Every muscle, every sinew in their bodies are so fucking well sculpted, it was a feast for the eyes 😍 I was particularly impressed by their running shots - most of them were taken in a single shot, and they sprinted the whole time. Just goes on to show how FIT AND ATHLETIC the actors were for this role. It was a short watch, but packed with a lot of suspense. Till the last half of the last episode, I was unsure if it will get over in one season or if there will be a 2nd season chasing the villain. Also Park Sung Woong as the villain was a delight to watch. Cold, killer eyes and that maniacal smile was enough to protray all the malice that his character demanded. This was quite the refreshing watch after a series of average to bad Cdramas binge sessions. Overall, would totally recommend it for the action scenes and the easy camaraderie between the two lead men.
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For the most part this was a really enjoyable series. Fantastic cast with some excellent fight scenes. The last epsiode was kind of a let down and very anti-climatic. I wanted Myeong Gil to get more punishment than he got. The man was ruthless and way too many good people died b/c of him. Park Sung Woong deserves all the awards for his portrayal of Myeong Gil! Episode 6th effing pissed me off so bad! It was so nonsensical and made my blood boil. The actions of the characters was so illogical. After that I thought episode 7 was really good and then episode 8 was a let down. It just felt rushed.
I loved the bromance between Woo Do Hwan and Lee Sang Yi.
12/31/23
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Very Disappointing and Sad Series
I don’t usually leave reviews, but this series was especially disappointing and heartbreaking to me and everyone I watched it with. It was really sad that they killed off almost all of the good characters, especially the grandfather, I won’t even go into that, and all the other nice characters that were helping, as well as what they did to the guy and his pregnant wife, that was really wrong. I’ve always liked Woo Do Hwan and think he’s a great actor, so one of the reasons I watched the show was because he was in it, but I’m disappointed that he’d play in a show that kills the characters off in such brutal and disturbing ways, especially when at some points they had to take on dozens of bad guys by themselves, and didn’t even survive, so it was just hard to watch. And even though the lead actress Kim Sae-ron had a real life controversy, it seemed weird that they cut her out of the last half of the show, I was expecting her character to at least show up at the end, but they didn’t even mention her character even though she was originally one of the main parts of the storyline, so her character missing just really threw things off, and I feel like the show would have been a little better and made more sense if they would just have kept her in the rest of it or at least mentioned her more. All in all, even though it’s only a show, my family and friends and I were all upset with how it went and what happened to the good characters, so even though we like action and adventure shows this one just wasn’t enjoyable to watch and I would not recommend it.Was this review helpful to you?
‘It’s not over til it's over for real’
OmG. This drama was incredible!The cast! Was EXTRAORDINARY. It's amazing how the story was created. The plot! The friendship! And the dedication the main character has to their facial expressions. Holy. I'm also in love with the two main characters. I've been a fan of WOO do Hwan since his drama with JOY and seeing him in different kinds of roles... I'm proud as a fan!
I felt devasted with the other characters tho. That hurts a lot😫😫
All the cast did an outstanding job. After a few episodes, I realize the main girl was Saereun... I was shocked she was still part of the drama as controversy is a huge thing in Korea. However, I liked how they kept her.
She portrayed her character well.
The The ending was good! I was also shocked when I saw Siwon is part of the drama. Omg, I love him HAHAH.
I actually started watching this on the plane home from Cancun hehe
Good choice of downloading this. I'm somewhat traumatized from certain scenes as it's too brutal but hey.... It's BLOODhounds.
Haha.
Anyways, I would totally rewatch some scenes. Those scenes 🙈6/30/23 6:40pm
Good day to end JUNE 2023❤️
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Bloodhounds
This is my third time trying to watch this show.The first time I tried watching it, I think I gave up because I was too busy. The second time, I watched two episodes, and then got into a massive K Drama slump. I am pretty sure I didn't watch any show for around five months.
So what made me start watching this show? All the credit goes to the actors.
I recently watched Mr. Plankton, and I absolutely adored everything about that show, including the actors. Woo Do-hwan was phenomenal, and I wanted to watch more shows that he was in. Lee Sang-Yi also holds a special place in my heart, as he was a main character in the first K-drama I have ever watched (Hometown Cha Cha Cha), so of course I had to watch it for him as well. And lastly, I wanted to get a glimpse of an actress who I had never seen act, and who lives on in the memory of these dramas.
So with all of that in mind (mainly the cast), I clicked play on the first episode yesterday. And Bloodhounds did not disappoint.
First of all, the acting is insane. Every single person on the cast is crazy. The chemistry between Dohwan and Sangyi is also ridiculous: if you think that I didn't binge every single interview, every single snippet of any show they were on together, you thought wrong. I also watched every single edit they were in, and honestly, an edit I saw was one of the reasons why I even attempted watching the show in the first place (iykyk). Everyone else also acted incredibly: there weren't necessarily any standouts in my opinion, but I think that shows how balanced the acting was.
And then comes the story. I think overall, they had a very solid idea, and it turned out pretty well. The story was very captivating, and even despite all of the changes they had to make at the end, still turned out really well. My only issue is that we know NOTHING about Woojin. Who is his family? Why did he become a loan shark at the beginning? We literally have zero information on him, and I bet that they could have sacrificed some of Taeho's scenes for his scenes. It felt like Woojin was a side character in his own drama. That changed in the last two episodes, and hopefully it will improve in Season 2 as well.
Lastly, the FIGHTING SEQUENCES??!! Half the time, I was literally holding my breath. The scene where Woojin fought all of those men at once in the house? Honestly, it reminded me of one hundred men vs a gorilla, but instead of a gorilla, it's a lovable strong man. The scene with the archery??!! The scene where they had vents as their weapons at the end?? All of them were so so creative, and so well shot. I also really liked that their was less music during the scenes, and instead, you could hear the actual fight (like all the grunts and hits: it felt like you were actually there).
The ending was very heartwrenching in some ways, but heartwarming in others. Once you watch the show, you can decide for yourself.
I am so excited that Season 2 is filming, and I can't wait to see all these characters on my screen again!
And remember, sometimes thank you is just enough.
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Gritty action, frustrating story.
I really enjoyed the fighting scenes and bromance in this drama, but unfortunately that wasn't enough to make up for the drama's faults.My biggest gripe is just the writing/story, specifically with regards to how the actions of some of the characters were written and how some scenes played out. I feel like in each episode, there was always at least one mistake a character made that, on one hand, you could realistically drum it up to being an honest to God mistake, but on the other hand, you can just tell the mistake was purposesly written in order for the bad guys to get yet another one-up on them and for the plot to move along.
It's just frustrating to watch as a viewer, because based on what we have come to know about each character, their background, strengths, fighting specialisties, etc., we would expect things to play out a certain type of way, and when they don't it just seems like a disservice to the character.
In summary, I just felt like the bad guys were given plot armour 99% of the time while the good guys had to suffer the most and it was frustrating to watch.
Aside from the plot frustrations, everything else was good. All actors did a great job, even Saeron, and I loved the bromance and fighting as well.
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not sure how much more time I need to move on from this show!!!
i have to admit the first 3 episodes had me wondering what all the fuss was about, but then things started happening in a pace I couldn't move an inch. the journey from 4th episode to the 6th were a total cliffhanger! the plot was quite interesting and the fight scenes excited me to the utmost, but what was more to these 3 episodes for me that stood above all was the characters and how deep i had fallen in love with most of the characters before I'd realized(which im gonna cherish forever!). even the evil characters got me passionate tp know more about them.however im afraid to say the 2 last episodes weren't as much as i had hoped for; especially the last. the ending makes quite sense but it felt to me like it was apart from the pace the previous episodes used to go by. i mean things hadn't gone so easy in the last 6 episodes to be flowing smoothly then in the 8th episodes, that's what im talking about.
all in all, I've recommend the show to all my friends and i already can't wait for the 2nd season.
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Packed with action, bromance, and thrill!
I absolutely devoured this show! It was heart-racing level of good! Full of adrenaline! Small spoilers towards the end.Geon Woo meets Woo Jin as rivals in a boxing match but they quickly become friends. Geon Woo's mother falls for a loan scam and thus starts the journey of both men trying to take on a dangerous group of men.
The bromance is impeccable and fun with a bit of jokes thrown in here and there. It reminded me a bit of Midnight Runners. Though Bloodhounds has a lot of violence and blood and a bit of torture. I had to speed up some of those parts but mostly I was filled with an adrenaline rush as the show went on.
Episode 6 made me anxious and I was sweating. So be prepared for that. It's not a very easy watch.
There is no romance in this series. It's pure grit and testosterone. But they didn't forget to add some badass females. I was delighted by them not simply depicting women as helpless or eye-candy. Nope. You'll love them!
I only have two small issues but it's not something that would make me like this show any less.
SPOILER
- Why did they (writers) send Hyeon Joo away? I was so ready for her to be there at the end.
- The ease with which Kim Myung Gil kills the deadliest killers felt a bit of a stretch. Especially since he says he was scared of them.
SPOILER FREE
This series deserves at least a one time watch. Especially if you saw Woo Do Hwan in Joseon Attorney, then watch him in this different avatar in Bloodhounds. He is spectacular!
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